Now, there’s a rumor going around the Internet – insert bitter skepticism here – that Man of Steel’s villains will be General Lane (Lois Lane’s father) and the cybernetic Metallo, whose secret weapon is his heart: A big piece of kryptonite that powers his suit, keeps his barely human body alive, and renders Superman pained and useless.

General Sam Lane, the father of Lois Lane, is a central figure in director Zack Snyder’s Superman reboot. This really is, as Zack described in several interviews about the film, a “real world” Superman. I’m told that when Superman arrives on the scene, people don’t know what to think. He’s an alien from another planet. What are his real intentions? He’s not human and that scares a lot of people. Here’s a guy who can fly, see through walls, is bullet proof, and can lift a tank. The military views him as a potential threat to national security. They find kryptonite, pieces of his home planet, and discover its radioactive elements can be harnessed as a near unlimited source of power, both literally and figuratively. It’s a brand new form of energy that is secretly developed by the government. The military, under the direction of General Sam Lane, uses kryptonite to power an experimental cyborg super soldier named Metallo. He’s ultimately exploited as a weapon against Superman.

Save for the lack of Lex Luthor, this actually sounds exactly like Superman: Secret Origin. In that story, Lois Lane’s father, General Lane, hates and wants to stop Superman because of his super alien powers or something. (If you’ve seen either of the Hulk movies, he’s a lot like General Ross played by Sam Elliot and William Hurt, respectively.) Metallo has had many an origin throughout comic book history, but only in Secret Origin was he Sergeant John Corben, an unpleasant soldier in Lane’s army – and Lane’s surrogate son – who has long had the hots for Lois Lane.

Does this so-called plot revelation’s uncanny resemblance to Secret Origin – an admitted inspiration for the Superman: Man of Steel – lend credence to it being the genuine article? Or is it the other way around – did this so-called “source” for this story know about the aforementioned inspiration and concoct a story based around it? Alas, we’ll have to wait for more official info before we know one way or the other.

Truth be told, Geoff John’s Superman: Secret Origin was a great book, so Zack Snyder and company could do far worse with regard to source material. That said, while Metallo is a fairly formidable foe for Superman (you know, twenty or so minutes of formidability), as the main villain for the entirety of a Superman film, I can’t help but assume he’d be weak sauce.

What do you guys think? Would you be satisfied with General Lane and Metallo as the villains in Man of Steel or would you prefer to see some heavier hitters?